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Volume 2 Chapter 2-1: Kuu

 

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「Rick, gather some people and get the dried meat and cold weather outfits that we were going to trade for salt and bring them to the workshop.」

I ordered my childhood friend Rick to bring the dried boar meat, bones, fat, and cold weather gear and left the village proper with the Fire Foxes.

Since we had so quickly left the village the Fire Foxes’ tails were bristled and stiff as they probably assumed that they were being driven out.

I quietly guided them to our destination.

「This will be your home from today onward. Sorry, but we don’t have the luxury of giving you each a separate home so I’ll have you live together for now. If you really hate it…I don’t really have a solution except to search for some Elves who don’t hate the idea of living together with some of you. I can at least accommodate some of you in the village. What do you want to do?」
「It’s best if we all live here.」
「I’m glad to hear it.」

The Fire Foxes looked amazed as they stared at my large workshop on the outside of town.

The construction ability of Elves and Fire Foxes have barely progressed so all their buildings were made of wood and stone. The 30m x 30m giant workshop made of brick must have been shocking.

There was no denying how large it was.

If you converted it into separate living spaces it was enough for a full 45 rooms. 50 people could manage to live here quite easily.

「Never enter the building next door. There’s various dangerous things inside.」

Next to this giant building there was a second large workshop.

It contained the armor and weapons that we had gotten from the soldiers and various things I had created.

Unlike the first workshop which I had created with livability in mind, I simply created the second one as a workspace since it would take up a week to clean it up properly.

「Umm, Cyril-sama, is it really okay for us to use this place? This is the first time I’ve seen such a splendid building.」

Kuu said uneasily.

「Of course. Honestly I wanted to find a place for you to live in the village, but if I do that now then it would wear on both parties right? It’s best for us to slowly reduce the distance and get along.」

Fire Foxes had their own rules and customs, Elves were the same.

If this many people suddenly started living in the village it would cause various problems.

I would start by leaving some distance between them and slowly provide jobs for the Fire Foxes so they could show results. This would slowly appeal to the elves and make them understand their usefulness.

Slowly but surely I would integrate them with the villagers.

「Cyril-sama what happened to the village…..I mean to Erucy? There’s no way you could make such a thing like this. Could it be that you received the backing of the Choline Kingdom?」

Kuu said with some expectation in her voice.

Her conjecture was quite right. A brick building and high quality glass were beyond the skills of our elven village. In that case they should have been brought from elsewhere.

Based on that the only nearby source of such things that was not hostile was the Choline Kingdom.

If us Elves had received the support of the Choline Kingdom things would be much more secure. Kuu’s thoughts most likely went in this direction.

「Unfortunately we have no formal relationship with the Choline Kingdom or the commercial city Erin. I created this building using magic.」
「There’s no way th…..no…thank you very much. We will gratefully use this building Cryil-sama.」

Kuu respectfully bowed her head.

She didn’t believe me, but she must have thought there was a reason I was hiding it. She was worried it would harm our relationship if she were to try and expose it.

She never used to know how to hold back like this…maybe her new standing in the community contributed to her reservedness.

Be that as it may, if she were to act over-familiar because we were friends, she wouldn’t have been chosen as representative even if she was the Chief’s daughter.

「I’m happy you like it. I’d like to invite everyone to move their luggage inside and settle in…but in all honestly you smell bad, you’re much too dirty. First you need to clean up. See that water well next to my workshop?」

I said pointing towards the water well.

It was made with a brick wall and a small roof over it.

Because I planned to spend a lot of time in my workshop I had set up a water well nearby.

I had purposefully made the wall and roof because I had installed a metal water pump. It would be a bad idea to leave such a thing exposed to the elements.

Being an elf I could easily summon water from the well using my magic, but when I was in Dwarven form as Kuiro it was very inconvenient without such a water pump.

「Like this you grab this metal part here and pump up and down. The water will come flowing out.」

The pump I’d made was a hand pump. When you pulled the lever it would use atmospheric pressure to fill the pump’s pipe and spout out water through the mouth of it.

That water could easily be poured into a bucket.

「I’ll be entering the workshop to prepare food, so when you finish washing you can come inside. If you enter as you are now we’ll need to do a lot of cleaning. Plus you’re all girls right? Don’t you prefer being clean?」
「Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Our hearts are filled with gratitude.」

Now not only Kuu, but the rest of the Fire Foxes bowed in gratitude.

After they fled through the mountains and forests their bodies and clothes were muddy, dirty, and sweaty.

In this state they wouldn’t be able to rest properly.

Both their eyes and bodies must be exhausted, but I’m sure part of it was how filthy they felt.

Either way, preparing food would take a while so I’d prefer they use their time wisely.

「Right now the door is open, but the water well house has a door that you can close so no one can see inside so don’t worry. I’ll be going inside the workshop, but just call out if you need anything.」

I said with a backwards glance at the bowing Fire Foxes and headed inside.

「Umm, Cyril-sama…」

Kuu called out stopping me.

「What is it?」
「Umm…it’s not much but please use this too. Umm and when we’re cleaned up we’ll come help.」

She said and took off the bag she was carrying. She opened it showing salt, dried meat, cheese, and a few other bits of food.

「I’d prefer you save that stuff so I’ll only take the salt. Also just leave the cooking today to me. You must all be very tired…what I’m making is pretty simple so I don’t need any assistance.」
「Is that so?」
「Yeah. So don’t worry and just clean yourselves up.」
「I understand. But I’ll still hurry and come help anyways!」

Kuu said with some more energy and ran towards the water pump.

It looks like she’ll be out quickly.

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